August 22, 2006

This is the famous golden pavilion that figures in Yukio Mishima’s famous novel “the temple of the golden pavilion”.
Like the pavilion in the novel, the real one was burned down by fanatical young man.

Mishima himself tried to stage a coup by taking a Japanese Military commander hostage.
When he realised that hist plans for restoring the traditional Japan would not succeed, he committed ritual suicide.

The real golde pavilion was rebuilt in 1987 this time also covering the lower storey with a relatively thick layer of gold.